Radial tilt roller levelers



June 16, 1959 Filed Feb. 14; 1956 F. c. KOCH ET AL RADIAL TILT ROLLER LEVELERS 5 Sheets-Sheet-Z June 16, 1959 F. c. KOCH ETYAL RADIAL TILT ROLLER LEVELERS Filed Feb. 14, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet;

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June 16, 1959 F. 5. KOCH ET AL 2,890,738

Q RADIAL TILT ROLLER LEVELERS Filed Feb. 14, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 F. c. KOCH ET AL RADIAL TILT ROLLER LEVELERS June 16, 1959 5 Sheets-$11691; 5

Filed Feb. 14, 1956 United States Pa., assignor's to Voss Engineering 'Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 14, 1956, Serial No. 565,389

Claims. (Cl. 153-107 This invention relates to roller levelers for straightening sheets and plates and more particularly to improvements in the mounting of the back up rolls on a tiltable yoke, and it is among the objects thereof to provide a tilting back up support for roller levelers which is aumatically adjustable by means of a screw jack drive whereby such adjustments may be readily made through a radial tiltable mechanism in small increments of angular movement during the operation of the leveling rollers.

It is another object of the invention to provide a radial adjustment of a tilting support of the back up rolls of roller levelers which is of a durable construction that provides adequate bearing contact to eliminate wear on the movable parts.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawings constituting a part hereof in which like reference characters designate like parts and in which:

Figural is an end elevational view of a roller leveler embodying the principles of this invention;

Figure 2, a longitudinal section taken along the vertical center line of Figure 1;

Figure 3, a cross-sectional view, partially in elevation, taken along the line 3-3, Figure 2;

Figure 4, a similar view taken along the line 4-4, Figure 2;

Figure 5, a vertical cross-sectional view, partially in elevation, taken along the line 55 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is an end elevational view partially showing a portion of the bottom yoke in cross-section; and

Figure 7, a vertical cross-section through the working roll and the bottom roll supporting yoke taken along the vertical center line of Figure 6 of the drawing.

With reference to Figure 1 of the drawing, the numerals 1 and 2 generally designate the side frames of a roller leveler that support a yoke 3 at the top and a tiltable bottom yoke 4 carrying back up rolls generally designated by the numerals 5 and 6 as shown in Figures 6 and 7 the tiltable bottom yoke 4 is supported on arcuate shape bearings 4a provided in the side frames 1. The working or leveling rolls are designated by the numerals 7 and 8 in Figure 1, and the leveler rolls and back up roll construction are of no particular significance to the present invention which deals with the construction of the titing mechanism for the bottom yoke 4, which is shown in Figures 2 to 7 of the drawings. Side frames 1 and 2 are supported on a base 9 having cross members 10 for supporting the tilting mechanism.

As shown in Figures 5 and 7, the bottom yoke is provided with a radial tilt guide generally designated by the numeral 11 which is disposed at a slight angle from the vertical. Guide blocks 12 are movably mounted in guide tracks 13, and a shaft 14 extends through blocks 12, as shown in Figures 2 and 5.

With reference to Figures 2 and 4, shaft 14 is mounted in beating blocks 15 and 16 by retainer end plates 15 and 16, Figure 2, and is movable in ways 17 and 18 that are mounted on the cross members 10 of the roller 2,890,738 Patented June 16, 1959 leveler base. The Ways 17 and 18 are fixed and vertically disposed but permit sliding movement of the blocks 15 and 16. As shown in Figure 2,, a bearing block 19 is mounted for sliding movement in a slide way 20 that is fixed to the cross members 10, the ways 17, 18 and 20 being in, a fixed vertical position, as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings. Block 19' is con nected to a jack screw 21 having a base 22 for housing a worm gear, not shown, driven by a worm shaft 23 that extends from a gear box 24 driven by motor 25,

' Figure 4. Jack screw 21 is attached to block 19 by the clamping plate 26 and bolts 27. When the jack screw 21 is raised or lowered, its connected bearing block 19 will raise and lower shaft 14 which is journalled in blocks 15 and 16 movable in the fixed vertical guide ways 17 and 18. The \guide blocks 12 movable in guide tracks 13, Figure 5, will'cause the bottom yoke radial tilt guide 11 to be displaced in an angular direction to cause tilting of the attached bottom yoke 4 on its arcuate bearing 4a, Figures 6 and 7, which displaces the bottom back up rolls 6 and their associated leveling rolls 8 to vary the pass for the sheet or strip passing between the leveling rolls 7 and 8.

The degree of angularity of the guide tracks 13 of the bottom yoke may be chosen to give the maximum tilting adjustment of the bottom rolls required within the vertical limits of movement of the jack shaft 14, this angle being approximately 2. I

The angular or tilting movement of the tilt guide 11 is speedily eflected by suitable manual controls (not shown) for the jack screw drive motor 25 so that the backup rolls 6, supported on the bottomyoke 4, will be subjected to angular adjustment with reference to the working rolls 8 to the same degree as the tilting movement of the tilt guide 11.

By virtue of this adjustment, the working rolls are displaced as needed to effect a straightening of the sheet material passing therebetween to remove buckling or other irregularities in the sheet.

The construction of the bearing blocks and guide ways provides substantial bearing area for the shaft 14 to more or less solidly hold the tilt guide 11 against vibration or chatter without resulting in any significant wear on the bearing and guide blocks, or on shaft 14.

While the tilting of the back up rolls is not in itself novel, it is deemed that the present construction affords a practical and reliable means for effecting speedy and accurate adjustment of the back up roll supports to expedite the leveling of steel strip and sheets.

Although one embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the details of construction without departing from the principles herein set forth.

We claim:

1. In a roller leveler, a supporting frame including side frames, upper and lower leveling rolls and back up rolls, a bottom yoke supporting the bottom back up rolls, said yoke being mounted for tilting movement to adjust said back up rolls and their associated leveling rolls to vary the pass between the upper and lower leveling rolls, and means for tilting said bottom yoke consisting of a tilting guide extending downwardly from said yoke having angularly disposed guide tracks, a shaft having guide blocks movable in tracks extending vertically from a base of the supporting frame, a screw jack having a guide block connected with said shaft mounted in a track extending vertically from said base for moving said shaft transversely of its axis, said shaft having additional guide blocks in the tracks of said tilting guide whereby said bottom yoke is subjected to angular tilting movement in 3 7 response to vertical movement of said screw jack guide block.

2. In a roller leveler, a supporting frame including side frames, upper and lower leveling rolls and back up rolls, a bottom yoke supporting thebottom back up rolls mounted for tilting movement to adjust said back up rolls and their associated leveling rolls to vary thejpaths, between the upper and lower leveling rolls, said yoke having depending track members in alignment with laterally spaced tracks mounted on the supporting frame, said depending and laterally spaced tracks being in alignment and having guide blocks mounted for sliding movement therein, a shaft extending through said blocks constituting a pivot for said blocks and a screw jack connected to one of said blocks operative to raise and lower said shaft to move the guide blocks in their tracks, the depending tracks of the bottom yoke being inclined at an angle from the vertical where upon movement of the shaft the guide blocks in said tracks subjects the bottom yoke to tilting movement.

3. In a roller lever a supporting frame including a base, side frames, upper and lower yokes for supporting back up rolls and leveling rolls disposed between said back up rolls, the bottom yoke having guide tracks for receiving blocks mounted for sliding movement therein, which tracks are inclined at an angle from the vertical and said supporting frame base having guide tracks for slide blocks, a shaft extending through the slide blocks of said bottom yoke and supporting frame tracks having pivotal connection with said blocks and a screw jack connected to one of the blocks movable in the tracks on said base for displacing said shaft in a vertical direction whereby the guide blocks of the yoke tracks subjects the yoke to tilting movement for adjusting in the bottom back up rolls.

4. In a roller leveler a supporting frame including a base, side frames, upper and lower yokes for supporting back up rolls and leveling rolls disposed between said back up rolls, the bottom yoke having guide tracks for receiving blocks mounted for sliding movement therein, which tracks are inclined at an angle from the vertical and said supporting frame base having guide tracks for slide blocks, a shaft extending through the slide blocks of said bottom yoke and supporting frame tracks having pivotal connection with said blocks and a screw jack connected to one of the blocks movable in the tracks on said base for displacing said shaft in a vertical direction whereby the guide blocks of the yoke tracks subjects the yoke to tilting movement for adjusting the bottom back up rolls, said jack having a worm drive connected to a gear box driven by a motor to extend or retract said jack.

5. In a roller leveler a supporting frame including side frames, upper and lower leveling rolls and back up rolls, a top and bottom yoke extending across the side frames for supporting back up rolls, leveling rolls disposed between said back up rolls, said bottom yoke having a tilting guide consisting of tracks inclined at an angle on the vertical and having guide blocks therein, a plurality of guides having vertical tracks disposed in alignment with and between and on the sides of said bottom yoke guides, guide blocks in said last-named tracks and a common shaft extending through the guide blocks of the bottom yoke and vertical track blocks and a screw jack connected to the block in the track between said bottom yoke tracks for displacing said shaft in a vertical direction to efiect tilting motion of the bottom yoke through its inclined guide block tracks.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,778,803 Hubbert Oct. 21, 1930 2,240,090 Christman Apr. 29, 1941 2,254,461 Todd Sept. 2, 1941 2,698,043 Holtz Dec. 28, 1954 

